


Eyes of A Stranger

by LadyDiskette



Category: That Guy with the Glasses/Channel Awesome
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Disturbing Themes, Gen, Horror, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 10:57:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12409020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDiskette/pseuds/LadyDiskette
Summary: What would you do if an innocent bystander was drawn into your world against his will? What if he was possessed by a being that was killing him from the inside and didn't know the grim fate he would receive in the end whether by the monster's hands or yours, what if this person...was your own friend?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween everyone, I wanted to write this as a dark fic which is inspired by both the Entity Storyline and The Exorcist, but then, after a while, I thought it would also fit as a Halloween themed story. I don't own TGWTG or the characters including their RLP. And I mean no disrespect to any of them no matter how scary this story may be. Thank you and enjoy.
> 
> Note: This takes place after the Lord Vyce arc but somewhere between the first and second part of the "Entity" storyline.  
> I got the title from a Queenscythe song, which helped fit the mood of the story and what happens in it. I don't own it but I love the song regardless. 
> 
> (This is also another old fanfic that I am getting around to posting up to give my Dashboard more life. I hope you enjoy)

Linkara was sitting on his couch, upgrading his weapons and equipment. A few were damaged during the battle with Lord Vyce, while others just had to be upgraded to better quality. Lord Vyce had warned him that there was something dark on the horizon, but couldn't tell him any more than that. He shrugged, probably just a last attempt to win by scaring him.

“Pollo,” Linkara asked. “Have you gotten that gun finished?”

Pollo hovered in with his little blue body over to Linkara's futon. “The schematics are at 79% completed Linkara. We are now just creating the Anti-Recoil beam for safety protocol.”

“Okay, keep working on it. Any more threats coming down from Vyce?”

“None...he is very quiet. As such, we have put extra watch on him. Do you think what he said about this "darkness" is true or just bluffing?” Pollo asked him.

“If there was anything like that around,” Linkara answered as he then picked up the magic coin to upgrade it. “I think we would have noticed it. Evil beings don't keep quiet and wait for us to die of old age; they knock on the door demanding a fight. He’s probably just trying to get us to let our guards down.”

“In any event, I will put a security scan for alien matter threats on the house at two hour intervals to be on the safe side,” the little blue robot suggested.

“Very well, then, Pollo, better safe than sorry.” As he said so, he turned off his sonic screwdriver and puts down the magic coin he was working on, “Let’s see, anything else on the schedule?”

“I will scan for any threats on earth. But right now, the only duty you have to take care of is your usual review schedule,” said Pollo as it hovered away, calling back to him.

“You're right,” the comic reviewer thought. “I need to get back to work on my reviews.”

He got up and headed into his office looking online at his planner. Apparently one of his friends and fellow reviewers, ChaosD1, who reviewed mass-multiplayer online RPG games, had found another World of Warcraft comic based around the Wrath of the Lich King expansion that was fraught with plot holes and lore inconsistencies. After seeing his last review on what he called the "Vanilla" WoW comic, he asked Linkara if by chance they could do a crossover together. Linkara decided to accept; it would be a good way to get back into normalcy again after the life and death struggle having to deal with Vyce, Mechakara, and their alliance. He logged into his Skype and got on.

After a minute, the webcam came on

ChaosD1 was there, wearing his Mt. Dew t-shirt; it looked as if he grew a small goatee and had his hair done since the last time Linkara had seen him, which had been a while. Or so it felt like with all the craziness that happened around here.

“Hey, ChaosD1?” Linkara said putting a smile on his face. “You ready to get this crossover done that we talked about a while ago?”

“Hey Linkara, great to see you again. Yeah, that sounds awesome. I have the comic BrimFirefly32 sent me. It just got here this morning,” the MMO reviewer replied.

“Great, can you get it scanned so I can see it?”

“Sure, hang on.” He got up and walked away from the webcam, as Linkara waited patiently. The screen flickered a bit with a few glitches here and there. Linkara thought maybe there must be something wrong with his webcam. He leaned in and spoke into the mic.

“You might want to check your WiFi while you're up. The connection seems to be cutting out.”

He saw ChaosD1 sitting back down in his computer chair, “What?” he asked, looking perplexed. “What do you mean?”

“There were some glitches,” Linkara answered, “I thought maybe your connection cut out or something.”

A uneasy look of confusion formed on the other man's face. “That is odd....it was working fine this morning,” ChaosD1 said, and then shrugged it off. “I will ask Nash about it later...anyway, I got it scanned over to ya.”

“Awesome.”

He opened the files and started looking through the comic pages.

~*~*~*~

Bear, meanwhile, was sitting on the couch in Linkara's review room, as he usually did. He was a good Bear, watching over his owner's comic book collection, keeping vigilante watch in case 90s Kid tried to snatch them again for reading before Linkara got a chance to look at them first. However, he could not ignore the strange and invisible presence that was enveloping the room, an eerie static feeling that tickled his furry felt and made him feel uneasy, not mention making him feel very scared and uncomfortable. Using his teleportation powers, he disappeared and made his way onto Linkara's floor in the other room.

It heard his owner talking on the computer to what appeared to be friends that Linkara knew very well, but didn't live within the house like NSD, Harvey, or 90s Kid did.

“Well, I have an open spot in the review schedule in about a month, so... two weeks from now?”

“Great, and by then I will get the WiFi fixed hopefully.”

“Yeah, hopefully. See you then!”

When he had finished talking to ChaosD1, Linkara got up and was about to get something to eat when he nearly stumbled on Bear laying on the ground. He looked down curiously. Bear never usually used his teleportation powers that often, and usually it was only when the topic of bears came up in his comic book reviews. He leaned down and picked his childhood companion up, staring at him curiously.

“Hey there buddy, whatcha doing here on the floor?” Linkara asked good-humoredly

Bear, of course, couldn't talk, not in the way Linkara could with ChaosD1 just now, or any of the other roommates in the house, but he and Linkara had an empathic connection that allowed them to communicate, although it had gotten weaker as Linkara had grown older.

'Linkara, there's something bad.... or there was, it's gone away now... but I was scared for you. There was some kind of danger.' 

Linkara hugged Bear before he spoke quietly, “Lord Vyce is gone now and so is Mechakara. There is nothing to be scared about anymore....but, if you want, you can sit with me and my friend when we plan our crossover together, how does that sound?”

 'Okay... I'll stay by you the whole time. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt again' 

“Neither would I...”

~*~*~*~

 

Two Weeks Later...

ChaosD1 arrived in Minnesota. He stood on Linkara's doorstep, a little buzzed from the long trip but still alert and orientated. On his right side, he had his backpack filled with his reviewing equipment and laptop. At the sound of the knocked door, Linkara arrived and opened the door for him, letting the MMO reviewer step through the threshold.

“Hey, man, come on in.” Linkara had said as he held the door open and shut it.

“Thanks,” ChaosD1 smiled. All of a sudden, he felt a cold shudder crawl up and down his spine like a spider, “Geeze, Spoony wasn't kidding. It’s cold in here. A polar bear could vacation in this house.” He put his duffel bag down on a chair. The room felt strangely cold for it being comfortably warm and sunny outside the house.

“Sorry. That's how it is in the north. You got a sweater or something?”  
“No, sorry.”  
“Well, hang on, maybe I have a coat you can wear or something.”

Linkara went into his bedroom, leaving Chaos in the living room alone with his stuff. Meanwhile, Bear had been watching their exchange from the couch where he belonged. Something about Linkara's friend was unsettling to him, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it yet. ChaosD1 looked over and saw Bear sitting on the couch. Silently, he went over, smiling.

It was an adorable-looking stuffed animal, and very gently used as any little boy would use a teddy bear. “Hey, there, aren't you a cute little thing....”

He leaned over and picked it up, studying it closely, It reminded him of a small bear plushy he too once had as a child. “You must be that teddy bear Linkara puts in his reviews for the fangirls, I can see why they like to put you in their fics.”

Bear didn't know how to respond to this. His empathic connection only extended to Linkara and he couldn’t speak to anyone else. But something in ChaosD1's eyes told Bear that his thoughts would reach him, though he was not sure how. He never had anyone else from Linkara's circle of colleagues ever talk to him before, let alone touch him.

'Who are you?' Bear tried to speak, but it didn't seem to come out right as ChaosD1 didn't answer him right away.

Chaos sat down on the couch in the living room and put Bear on his lap. “I wonder if you have a name or if he calls you just Bear, what is your name little guy? You have one?”

'He only ever called me Bear. But what's your name? What are you?'

As if to answer Bear's question, Linkara said Chaos's name, walking in with a black plaid buttoned down sweater.

 

“Here you go ChaosD1, let me know how it fits,” He tossed the coat over to him and the other guy caught it. “Oh, hey, you found Bear.”

“Yeah, he was just sitting here. He's adorable.”  
“Thanks. I've had him since I was little. I can't remember if it was a birthday gift or a Christmas gift, but he is my buddy.” Linkara took Bear out of Chaos's hands and set him aside on the couch.

 

ChaosD1 placed the coat on himself, which fit rather loosely in the sleeves but still snug around the chest. He thanked Linkara and they started to talk while Bear sat there, nuzzled up to Linkara. As they talked, that strange and invisible presence appeared again, draping a blanket of that same eerie static presence over the living room and the rest of the house. The lights slowly dimmed but neither man seemed to notice. The presence lingered, studying the two men. But both were engrossed in their writing to even notice it.

“So I think the first thing to note is compare the current WoW lore up against what they have down in the comic book-”

Bear, still sitting in Linkara's lap, did sense it, but he didn't want to alarm Linkara in the middle of scripting, so he simply teleported to the kitchen, where the presence was strongest. The numbers on the microwave started to move, changing the numbers back and forth. The presence waved its unseen tendrils across the room, up the walls, and into the electronics of the house, tainting their systems slowly, even surrounding and wrapping itself around the strange man that Linkara was sitting next to, curiously examining this stranger whom "The Champion" was chatting with. Was it another ally? A threat? Perhaps he could use this human to its advantage. It took its tendrils and brushed against him, penetrating through the fabric of the sweater and into the man's skin, sinking into his body, his very essence and soul. The MMO Reviewer could feel it, but he didn't understand it. It felt so strange and irritating that he scratched his arms, thinking it to be the fabric against his bare skin bothering him, unaware of the presence surrounding him.

Bear couldn't read the thing surrounding them, but he knew that it could read him. He knew it could smell his fear. And he knew that both Linkara and ChaosD1 were in danger. He teleported back to them and decided it was time to interrupt.

'Linkara, there's something here!' 

Linkara looked down and saw Bear, this time on the floor, sitting there upright, not toppled over. He then looked over at ChaosD1. The man looked like he was distracted by some minor annoyance and was rubbing at his arms, “Uhh, Chaos...Jon....you okay?”

“Huh...I am fine....must be jet lag or something, do you have a bathroom around here?” But his physical appearance, whose quickness alarmed Linkara for a brief minute, spoke otherwise. He looked pale and his body lurched forward as if exhausted with heavy fatigue.

“Yeah, down the hall...” Linkara answered.  
“Thanks”

ChaosD1 got up and walked down the halls through Linkara's normal review room toward the bathroom, feeling like a newborn colt on shaking legs when he walked into the bathroom.

He ran the tap water and scooped the water up with his hands and splashed it on his face, but his body still felt strange, like time and space were moving fast...but then very slow at the same time. The man's body still shook all over, and he gripped the sides of the white porcelain sink, afraid he was going to faint, but it didn't happen then. Suddenly, he heard a low hum all around him, very close to his ear, like someone was humming to him, leaning over his shoulder, but no one was there. He was all alone, yet the humming remained, disembodied.

Huuuuuummmmmmmaaannnnnn

He heard nothing but a high-pitched laugh as the world seemed to turn to static through his eyes.

“What...the...” He breathed heavily rubbing his eyes, all while his body was still shaking. “the...f-fuck...?”

TTTSHH!Crackle - Suddenly, the mirror to the medicine cabinet ChaosD1 had been looking into cracked loudly, breaking into thirds out of nowhere, making him jump and back away from the shards falling and collecting into the inside of the sink. Terrified, he ran as fast he could, but his feet became heavy and he reached as far as the middle of Linkara's review room when he couldn't move his legs, arms, his whole body. It was as if someone was grabbing him, pulling and bending his limbs at strange angles against his will. Even when he willed himself to struggle and gain control, something was manipulating every joint in his bones to bend at ungodly pressure against his own accord, until he could swear that he could hear them crack under this cold invisible force.

“LINKARA!” he screamed, frightened.

Out in the living room, Linkara heard the shout and jumped up, dashing down the hall. He couldn't think what could have happened so quickly to make Chaos yell like that. The comic book reviewer followed the sound of the screams coming from his reviewer room and dashed for the open door, seeing only a tiny glimpse of Chaos holding himself until it slammed shut in front of his face just as soon as he reached it. he pulled the doorknob but the door wouldn't budge. This was wrong, all freaking wrong. He slammed on the door, hoping that his friends would hear him.

“CHAOS! CHAOSD1!” Linkara screamed, banging until his fists felt red and sore from the impact, “CHAOS! OPEN THE DOOR!”

The screaming stopped and there was only silence that greeted The Champion, cold unsettling silence that freaked out Linkara even more as he slammed his whole body into the door, his panic intensified, screaming his friend's name over and over again. With his whole body trembling in fear, he reached out for his communicator to contact 90s Kid and Harvey Finevoice.

“HARVEY!” He ordered, “90S KID! GET IN HERE NOW! IT’S AN EMERGENCY!”

Harvey and 90's Kid came running from wherever they had been  
“What's going on, Kid?”

“I don't have time to explain right now, help me bust this door down!”

Suddenly they all three heard the sound of a man letting out a bone-chilling scream from the other side of the door.

“CHAOS!”

Together, the three managed to break the door open and dash inside. ChaosD1 was laying on the ground, moaning in pain and shaking violently. He looked unconscious, save for the trembling that was moving his whole body. Linkara rushed over, scared to death for his colleague.

What the hell was happening to him?

90S Kid and Harvey were standing off to the side, watching the young man shake uncontrollably, as if he was willing his last ounce of strength to fight back whatever was taking a hold of him. It was something neither of them had ever seen before. The MMO Reviewer's jaw clenched so tightly, blood was barely dribbling out of the side of his mouth and over his chin. Linkara took his hat and placed it underneath ChaosD1's head to soften his shaking head against the firm carpet.

Behind those dark sunglasses, 90s Kid's eyes stared on in terror, his voice dull and quiet. “Dude, is he like.. having a seizure or whatever?”

Linkara hated to, but he couldn't help but look on helplessly. he had never dealt with anyone undergoing what looked like an epileptic seizure before “I... I don't know... what do I do?”

Harvey walked over. “Here...stand back Kid, I know what to do.”

Harvey, having a little more experience in quick recoveries than Linkara, quickly went to Chaos and moved him into the correct recovery position before putting his fingers on Chaos's wrist, counting quietly as he looked down at his watch. Harvey looks at the man's chest as it heaved in short hitched breathes. whatever was going on, it was putting his entire body, heart, lungs, and nerves out of whack for a bit.

Linkara was still sitting next to the singer, looking up worriedly. “What is wrong with him?”

Harvey replied, shaking his head, “It looks like a seizure, but his pulse is normal. We might have to get him to a doctor when he snaps out of it.”

Linkara nodded. “Well, he's stopped shaking now. Harvey, can you help me get him on the bed?”

“Sure thing kid.”

Harvey and Linkara together lifted Chaos onto the futon and lay him down on his back. Linkara picked up his hat and straightened it out as Harvey looked over the MMO reviewer some more. His body looked to be more relaxed and limp now and his jaw had become unclenched. Harvey turned to 90s Kid. “Hey Junior, go get a glass of water for Jonny-boy over here.”

Linkara sat on the futon beside him, and leaned over feeling his friend's face. “He is breaking out in a cold sweat...” Linkara observed.

Harvey felt like he needed a cigarette now but he held off being around the close proximity of a unwell person. “You know him as well as I do Kid. Does this Jonny-boy have any history of seizures or done this before?”

Linkara thought back to all the times they spent together at crossovers and conventions. “I'm not sure Harvey,” he said,.“And even if he had, he would have told us or Holly whenever we went to Magfest. You know f-for medical reasons and such. It’s just....strange.” With that, his concern deepened even more for ChaosD1, it was one thing if he already knew he was epileptic or something, but this, this was different it came out of nowhere; without warning.

90's Kid returned with a glass of water which Harvey gently took out of his hand.  
“Thanks, Junior. Hold him up, Kid.”

Linkara tucked his arm behind the other man's shoulders and lifted Chaos into a sitting position as Harvey managed to pour some water into his mouth slowly. Chaos managed to swallow some of it and his eyes opened, breathing heavily, “L-L..in..kara...?” he whispered.

“Hey. Yeah, it’s me, Linkara,” the comic book reviewer answered his friend. “How do you feel?”

“A little scared right now,” Chaos laid there, staring up at the blank white ceiling. he spoke in a soft frightened voice. “what happened to me?”

“You,” Linkara sighed heavily. “Had some sort of seizure. We don't know exactly how... Does this happen a lot?”

The MMO reviewer tried to think back to any memories of it happening before, any flashbacks-even dating as far back as he could remember in his toddler hood, nothing. “N-No...I never have,” he answered. Even with the sweater on, he shivered. “Uum....I still feel cold...c-can I have a blanket?”

Linkara nodded, and looked around the room for a blanket but unable to find one he takes off his heavy wool coat and places it over ChaosD1's body. “Hopefully that should help.”

As Linkara bent over, ChaosD1's hand snapped out and grabbed Linkara by the arm, pulling him in. Linkara braced his hand against the back of the futon to steady himself. As he did so, he noticed dark lines lacing around ChaosD1's wrist that appeared and disappeared quickly, spreading further behind the sleeves and into his arms. The MMO reviewer's fingers were curved like the claws of a creature. Digging deeply into Linkara's arm with such force Chaos could tear through Linkara's skin if the man wished it. Harvey caught Chaos's arm and pulled his hand away from Linkara. Without pausing, Harvey shoved Linkara away and pinned Chaos's hands to the futon against the smooth wooden arm, pinning them there above his head. The sickened man caused a unnatural growl to emit from his throat that sounded like an electrical hum and arched his back, struggling against the singer. Finally, with a bit of twisting and scratching, he freed himself and managed to push Harvey away and get up, staring intently at Linkara, who was pulling his magic gun out of his pocket in self-defense.

Linkara braced himself, ready to strike even though he really doesn't want to. “I-I don't want to hurt you.”

Another dark chuckle emitted from his throat. “You will have to sometime Great...Hero....”

By this time, Harvey had pulled out his pistol as well. “90's Kid,” he exclaimed. “Go! Get out of here! Go find Blue and tell him to lock down this room!

“Got it Harvey!”

The door slammed behind him and a second later, the lock glowed blue as Pollo locked it down. No one could enter or leave until Linkara said it could be unlocked. It was just the three of them in there now.

Linkara stepped slowly towards him. “Chaos... what's going on?”

ChaosD1's head tilted to one side, and then slowly, mechanically tilted to the other side. “Who is this....Chaos....? A fitting name...for my great plan,” he raised his hand out. “once my arm reaches far and wide....Soon he whom I have taken on in this body will join the others...”

“Wait....who are you...?”

ChaosD1 uttered an animalistic growl under his breath as he spoke. “I am the never was. I am the never should. I am beautiful. And you will know my beauty.”

“Whoever you are...get out of his body...now!” demanded Linkara angrily.

“I. Think. Not.” He tapped his right temple with his finger. “He is in here. Where I can hear him scream, even his eternal soul screams for help. Begging to escape, but I won't let him. I am having so much fun, making him suffer in agony. Delicious, painful, agony. Whenever I appear, he is in there being tortured. And when I take him out, like a little toy out of my playchest, he doesn't know why you're all so terrified of him. It’s so wonderful. And I love every minute of it.”

Harvey walked slowly around, keeping the gun pointed at ChaosD1. “Whatever you are, you probably can't stand up to my gun. So leave and I won't hurt you!”

Linkara ran over to his partner and took his arm. “Harvey, no!”

“Do you want to shoot me?” the Creature inside the MMO reviewer asked. “Go ahead. This is merely a shell.....a shield .....you cannot hurt me...”

ChaosD1 stepped in front of Harvey, holding his arms out, daring him to shoot him.

Harvey hesitated. He didn't want to hurt Linkara's friend, but he wondered if letting him be the tool of whatever this was would be worse.

“You are such....fun creatures......much more fun than Lord Vyce...”

In an eruption so abrupt it startled both the men, he laughed with his teeth bared and gritted tightly together, looking almost sinister. Suddenly he threw himself against the wall next to him, slamming his whole body into the wallpaper harder and harder, screaming a normal human scream and then forcing himself to body slam the other wall on the other side of him in the same violent way and collapsing to the floor in a heap. Linkara and Harvey exchanged looks of alarm, finally hearing ChaosD1's own normal familiar voice but in a terrified squeak.

“Please Linkara.....help.......me.....”

Linkara went over, hugging the man close to him and holding him tightly in a protective embrace. “Chaos... Jon... you have to fight this... I don't know how to get it out, but you have to fight....”

“It’s in my head,” ChaosD1 shuddered, tears stream down his face, terrified.“...IT’S IN MY HEAD!”

Linkara whispered to him, trying to comfort the other man. “I know... It wants to take over, but you have to fight back! You can stop this, I know you can, but you just have to keep fighting it!”

The MMO review hugged himself, shaking. He sobbed, feeling sick all over. He wanted to go home and forget this day ever happened. All he could hear was the humming ringing in his ears, drowning out Linkara's words. He lay there still with his eyes open like he was in a trance, resting his head against Linkara's chest.

Harvey looked down. This was the most messed up thing he had ever witnessed, and he had seen his share before. “....Kid, we need to call Dr. Insano...” Linkara looked up at him with a wide-eyed expression. “I know you don't want to but we have no choice!”

“What will he do?” Linkara asked, still holding ChaosD1 in his arms. “What does Insano know anything about demonic possession or whatever this is?”

“We need someone with booksmarts on our side right now Linkara, and he is the only one we know at the moment!”

Linkara hesitated, looking back down at the gamer. he was quiet and disturbingly still, with skin cold to the touch and his eyes-his eyes were not bright and lively but there was something empty, glassy, and emotionless in their stare-hell, they weren't even blinking now. The only thing that reminded Linkara his friend was still alive was hearing his heart beating through his chest.

Linkara sighed, “Fine... if you think it's for the best..”

He pulled out his phone and quickly dials Spoony's number.

In Arizona, it was late at night where he was now. Lying in bed, he looked up and heard the phone on his bedside table and reached an arm out to grab for it and press the answer button. Spoony's dog Oreo was sleeping at the foot of the bed, keeping his feet warm. The phone rang again and Spoony looked at the number and answered it. “Linkara...do you know what fucking time it is over here?”

“Shut up, you're an hour behind me. This is an emergency. Put Insano on.”

“Okay okay...just...give me a minute all right?” Spoony got up and put on his pants, leaving his bedroom and going down into the lab. “Dr. Insano? The phone is for you, you got a call.”

Insano put aside his microscope and got off his stool, going over to Spoony. “This had better be pretty important! I've got a very delicate experiment going!” He stopped and looked over Spoony wearing nothing but his long pajama pants and slippers. “And why aren't you wearing a shirt? good god man, what do you think this is a harem?”

Spoony rolled his eyes at Insano and made a face at him, holding out the phone. “It's for you..”

Insano sighed dramatically and took the phone, “What?”

Linkara's voice was heard on the other end, “Dr. Insano…”

Dr. Insano cried out boastfully, “Well, if it isn't the great hero and my arch nemesis Linkara! -Have you come to gloat about thwarting my past attempts to take over the world?”

“Insano, I don't have time for this! I need you to come right away!”

Dr. Insano suddenly became intrigued, but also a bit suspicious. “Oh really? And why is that?”

“Long story short, ChaosD1 and I were doing a crossover and then... something came and it's taking over his mind! We need you here, now!”

“Why should I be concerned with your lower-functionary allies?” Dr. Insano demanded.

Linkara let out a frustrating sigh. he hated to do this but he had no choice. “I'll let you keep the raygun!”

Dr. Insano finally relented. “Fine...”

~*~*~*~*~

Back at Linkara's House, Linkara had a slightly comatose ChaosD1 laying in his bed, covered up, with Harvey sitting beside him in a chair and watching him, gun ready. It made Linkara nervous, seeing someone as innocent and quiet as Chaos laying there, having to be guarded like he was a comatose common criminal, but with his hands metaphorically tied he had no choice but to let Harvey do it anyway. Linkara and 90s Kid were in the living room when they heard the doorbell ringing. The comic book reviewer immediately jumped to answer it, revealing on the other side of the door to be Insano with a bleary-eyed Spoony standing next to him.

“Spoony, you're here too?”

Spoony nodded and yawned. “Yeah, I wanted to see if you needed any help.”

Linkara held the door and gestured with his hand. “Come on in you two....”

Insano bounced in gleefully. “Where's the patient?” he giggled excitedly.

Linkara sighed. Insano did not hold back with patients sometimes as the experiments in his lab showed. “He is in my bedroom....Harvey is in there watching over him. Please, be careful with him.”

Insano made an impatient tsk-ing noise and headed into the bedroom, Spoony and Linkara close behind him. The three of them entered Linkara's bedroom where ChaosD1 was still lying in bed, the button down sweater he had on a while ago removed from him, and Linkara's coat still covering him. Spoony entered looking very nervous. The dark-haired gamer's face grew pale as sheet rock, watching one of his friends laying there motionless on the bed. “Shit, what happened to him? Linkara, is he okay?”

Linkara leaned in and whispered to his best friend, “We're not sure what it is yet. We've managed to sedate him, but I'm not sure... whatever this is, it can probably break through that.”

Harvey nodded in Insano's direction, “Hey doc.” But, the singer didn't move from his chair.

Dr. Insano went over to the bed. “So this is the patient?” He removed the coat covering the MMO gamer and took out a device which he used as a scanner and turned it on, running it over the unconscious man's body to read his vital signs.

The others waited in silence as Insano examined Chaos. He frowned at the scanner, checked the man's heartbeat, opened one eye and looked into it. The pupils dilated when the penlight flashed into them. Just as he was about to check his blood pressure, Chaos's eyes snapped open and he grabbed Insano, just like he did to Linkara. Spoony and Linkara jumped in and took each side of the bed, holding the MMO reviewer down and prying his fingers away from Dr. Insano.

Dr. Insano fumed. “HOW DARE YOU GRAB ME? YOU’RE LUCKY I DON'T HAVE THE PAINFUL FURY OF SCIENCE ON MY SIDE TO BLAST YOU INTO PIECES!”

Chaos let out the high-pitched laugh that signaled to Linkara and Harvey that the entity was in control, “You think you matter... how delightful. You don't even realize what you are. An insect, waiting to be stepped on.”

 

Linkara held the magic gun out and pointed it at his reviewer friend, trying to hide the fear in his eyes and not let the creature detect it. “Let ChaosD1 go now...”

“He will serve his purpose once I am done with his body-” He grabbed Linkara by the throat and shoved him away, then backhanded Spoony in the face, sitting up now. “-Lord Vyce tried to stop me...and he failed for all his conquering! All his weaponry and resources...even he could not destroy me!

Insano had pulled out a strange device and is aiming for the head. “You call us insignificant? Well, guess what? You're even less! Some data that got out of control! You wouldn't even exist if it weren't for people like me!”

“Oh, now really...Can a piece of data...do this...?”

The lights began to flicker from the ceiling, followed by the lamp on the bedside table and then the lights flickering on and off in the bedroom bathroom. a transparent tendril slithered from ChaosD1's shoulder that only in his clouded Entity-controlled mind could see. It slowly reached out and wrapped itself around the scanner device, causing it to short circuit and fry out the scanner in Insano's hand. The scientist gasped and dropped the device. Linkara had gotten up and had his magic gun in his hand.

Linkara pleaded this time again. “Please don't make me do this...you're my friend, I don't want to kill you...”

“You will do what you must. Heroes always do. They're so awfully boring that way. Lame, predictable, dull, goody two-shoes that think they're the savior of mankind-I can't stand them honestly. as I'm sure even silly humans can't either. Rotten TRIPE!” the Creature using ChaosD1's voice sneered. “But even if you expel me from this body, I will find another. You cannot kill me. You cannot delete me. I will continue on using this body until I have taken every energy, every vitality from its tissue...but...if you kill the body with me inside...I could wither away and die....it has happened before...”

The grin on the MMO Reviewer's face was the creepiest both Linkara and Spoony had ever seen, the lips pulled back into curling sneer baring the man's pearly white teeth.

Insano stepped forward. It was his turn to address it. “Clearly not, if you remember it.”

ChaosD1 turned to Dr. Insano. “It's true I have seen it happen before....another creature such as myself was trapped inside a body, the body died and it starved to death in there....would you...like Linkara to give you a demonstration....Go on...would you, Linkara?”

With that, he started crawling on his hands and knees across the bed towards Linkara, brushing his perspired wet forehead against the nuzzle of the gun making Linkara take a step back and put it away. The man that was their friend and fellow reviewer suddenly shivered once more, and sat on his knees rubbing his head as if he was nursing a hangover. Linkara lowered the gun, swearing inwardly at himself, it made his blood turn cold at how this monstrous bastard was daring him to kill the MMO Gamer like that.

ChaosD1 looked up and stared at them, “What...what is going on? Spoony, what are you doing here?”

Before Spoony could say anything Linkara put away his gun and stormed out of the room, Spoony following behind him. Dr. Insano and Harvey left, shutting and locking the door behind them, leaving the MMO reviewer alone on the bed. He lay on his side ,hugging a pillow. He felt like it was a dream, a horrible dream he wanted to wake up from. Every time he blacked out and that god awful humming would be heard in his head, minutes even hours would pass and he would wonder what happened. Why everyone looked at him with pity and fear.

What was going on?

He didn't want to close his eyes again and sleep, but he was tired, so very tired-of what was happening to him.

~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile, in the living room, Linkara was pacing back and forth. He had dealt with strange things happening to him, happening to his team members, but in those times they learned to deal with it, work around it. They were prepared, experienced, could handle and know what to do by the book, because it was something that in their day and life was as normal as getting up in the morning. But this was different. This time an innocent bystander was being dragged in and any rational idea he had was slipping from his fingers.

Spoony was the first to speak. “You can't kill him. You said it yourself, so don't even consider it.”

Linkara flung his arms in exasperation, answering him. “I don't know what to do...I don't even know what to tell him....he knows nothing of Lord Vyce, or The Creature, or whatever oddities that happen at this place. And now he is being dragged into this against his will...this is different than when you and I deal with stuff Spoony! We could handle it. He has nothing, he keeps asking to know what is going on, but how do I tell him when it’s so new and terrifying for him? Christ Spoony, all he wanted was to come in and do a simple crossover…and now...now what?”

Spoony went over and put his arms around Linkara, “I know that. But he's innocent in all this you said so yourself. We can't hurt him, no matter how much that creature inside of him threatens or taunts us.”

Spoony turned to Insano while putting a comforting hand on Linkara.“Did you figure out exactly what we're dealing with here?” he asked him.

Dr. Insano fidgeted his fingers and shrugged, “Well, before that…thing destroyed my scanner, I picked up an interesting abnormality in your friend there. It seems as if what he said was true...it is feeding off of his vitality. His molecule structure seemed to be coated in an odd sort of parasitic DNA not like anything I have ever seen before. It’s adsorbing the human's cellular structure into its own, even dare I say it...using it for nutrients.”

Linkara felt sick. This wasn't happening. “So...he wasn't bluffing...it was eating him alive.”

Insano nodded, talking exuberantly. “It still is. I believe it's a form of data, but I'm not certain. Whatever it is, Chaos is going to die, whether by our hands or slowly by its own devices.” He walked around talking, “But....that is the good news...the process is extremely long and slow. So whatever harmful side-effects he would have it will take a long time to establish.”

Linkara rushed over and grabbed the doctor by his lab coat shaking him frantically until Spoony grabbed ahold of him and told him to calm down. “THAT MAKES IT EVEN WORSE! HOW IS THAT GOOD NEWS!?!?!?”

“Linkara! Linkara, chill buddy!”

“Don't tell me to chill Spoony! You heard what he said! THAT THING IS KILLING HIM ON THE INSIDE! THAT IS NOT 'PLEASENT' NEWS!”

Insano held up one finger. “Ahhh, but it gives us time! Time to make a plan and figure out how to save him. And he's fighting it as best he can, too, which slows it down even more.”

Linkara paced around some more, his hands twitching to do something. He was a man of action. He had to do something to save his friend.

Harvey leaned against the wall lighting a cigarette, “Do you have any suggestions, doc?”

“Unfortunately no....this is something that fascinates yet perplexes me...” mused the mad scientist.

Linkara slumped down in his chair picking up Bear and hugging him.

Spoony sat on the arm of the chair next to Linkara. “Fascinating or not, we have to think of something. Is there anything magical we can do? An exorcism, maybe?”

“Oh Spoony, you ignorant imbecile,” Insano explained. “This is not 'The Exorcist' or even close to that horrible trainwreck ‘The Devil Inside.’ We can't just call in a priest or some kind of cleric and remove The Entity from him. Its make-up composite is alien in nature not demonic.”

“Okay... so is there any way we can figure out its weaknesses? There has to be something that will drive it out without killing Chaos.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inside the dark cavernous prison of his mind, he sat there hugging his knees. Wanting to tell Linkara, Spoony, anyone that can hear him, that he is here and wants to be rescued. But he had no voice. He could only scream and have no one hear him. No one knew he was there. They couldn't find him. He wanted to die...HE WANTED TO JUST DIE

ChaosD1 can sense them watching him, the monsters, their eyes peering and studying him. Watching his every move, when his eyes flicker to a corner of the cave when something dark and shadowy moved, when his chest moves up and down with every breath, when he tries to hold back tears. Monsters that take sick pleasure in him crying and mentally begging to be left alone. They gave him feelings of despair and loneliness, the kind of down in the dirt despair that makes you want to end it all so you can be free. Not feel human misery ever again. But then they deny him that forbidden desire and let him live, linger cruelly until it drags him across the floor not even strong enough anymore to kick and scream as he is choking on his own desperation.  
This is where The Creature keeps him when it uses his body and voice to speak to his friends.  
And this is where they come, small demonic creatures that gnaw on his body crawling into his lap and up his arms trustingly but their eyes show no happiness, no affectionate playfulness, but cruelty and malice like everything here that The Creature has used to keep him contained forever in his little corner. Until he is needed to come out and cry in the damage he has caused unable to remember anything The Creature makes him say or do beforehand.  
Those are the times, when he wishes The Creature would just take him and end it all already.  
GET IT OVER WITH!  
He sees a tail slither behind a rock while another growl is heard, more blood-red eyes continue eying him. As if they think he might do something. But they know he won't do anything or leave. The Creature has seen to that.  
He sees them again gathering around the helpless young man, they walk up to him trustingly giving off the illusion of playful friendly kittens once again with malice intent in their eyes, he is too terrified to break their necks because the bigger demons are watching him, they enjoy the show as the tiny cat-like demons with tiny barbs sticking out of their back and sharp long claws with fangs surround him now and curl up. Acting so very innocent. Tasting him by nibbling a patch of skin there and scratching an arm here, lapping up the blood that sheds....

Their tiny fangs sinking into the skin....

~*~*~*~

-He bit on his own arm, grazing his teeth along the skin until it left bruises. The Creature doesn't care, it’s not his own body he is damaging. This foolish man that dared enter the threshold of The Champion unprepared. Now as the small mental demons at The Creature's disposal, claw and gnaw on the human trapped within his own mind, he enjoyed the pain he feeds off digging his long nails across both his bare arms. Digging them deeper, deeper, until the marks can be seen visibly by human eyes.

The transparent tendrils that slither from his body writhed around bored, wanting to rip the host's body too with their sharp claws attached at the ends. But that wouldn't do at all, no, it must be by this human's own hands. To give the Champion with the gun more pain and suffering by seeing this human the Champion and his allies care so much about, lay his own hands upon himself without even realizing it.

Or able to stop it...

The tendrils move around the room extending in length and running their claws over the walls and furniture, still attached to the MMO Gamer, slithering possessively all over his body from his shoulders down to the sides of his legs. The Host lay there emotionless. He stopped his painful ministrations to the vessel to hear the soft skittering of padded paws running over the carpet. He slowly moved his head to the side in the direction of the tiny sound, curiously. What small tiny creature would wander here? Is it the cute little teddy bear that was another friend of The Champion, wanting to witness the terrors that it brought upon itself?

The soft pitter-patter was heard again, this time moving behind the pile of clothes on the floor, thinking it could hide from The Creature as soon as it had been detected. An invisible tendril reached out like a dart and struck the little thing, feeling the claw impale through soft furry bulge and let out a tiny squeak of fear. Satisfied, it pulled it towards The Host to be brought before it.

Oh, it wasn't the teddy bear at all. Just a tiny mouse that had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, blood flowed from its gut and mouth, leaving behind a tiny long trail of blood as it slid across the floor.

“Is my host hungry?” The Creature asked, making ChaosD1 sound as if he was talking to anyone but himself. “It’s been so long since we have given you any nutrients...You must be fed.”

The tendril writhed and its skin pulsated sucking up eagerly the insides of the mouse's insides, adsorbing its energy, or what was lingering left of it. The tiny mouse's body begin to deflate before The Host's eyes, but its meat was still there. Its raw, red meat. ChaosD1, without thinking, crawled off the bed and across the floor, over to the dead mouse. Like a hungry sleek feline wanting to eat. He reached his hand out and ran the tips of his fingers over the bloodstained ratty fur of the dead mouse.

I can't...don't make me do this... That tiny corner in his brain that was still human told The Creature.

“But how long has it that you've eaten little human boy? I can't let my host wither and die away just yet, not until I've made the Champion of this planet suffer,” It spoke. “It’s only a piece of meat, what is the difference when skinned, compared to this and other meat that you humans would naturally ingest within your body. It’s all the same regardless...now feed my host...feed...”

Ignoring the internal screams of the human, The Creature took its tendrils and hooked the mouse into it's claws then lifted it up to the host's mouth, prepared to feed it. The claws that held the corpse of the mouse up ripped along the stomach and bent the spine at a weird angle exposing its red guttural intestines to him. He leaned in and started to feast upon the insides of the dead mouse, he looked like a starving child messily devouring the red soft juicy seeds of a pomegranate, the blood dribbled down his chin and stained the front of his t-shirt. But Chaos still kept eating it, the flesh ripped apart and now entered into his mouth chewing slowly to savor every taste of it.

~*~*~*~

Out in the living room, Linkara walked over to the kitchen to fix up some drinks, it was going to be torturous couple of hours mentally trying to think of a solution that would both kill the creature and save Chaos all in one, and even though he ached for some hard alcohol in the fridge at the moment, right not it probably wasn't the best option to go for when having a group brainstorming session.

“I will wait later,” he sighed, “now is the not the time.”

“You reading my mind kid?” Harvey said, as he slowly walked up behind Linkara and looked over his shoulder, “A fine time to be out of whiskey huh?”

“Even we had some a fat lot that would do us,” He said closing the fridge and giving him a can of pop, “we need to think seriously hard to come up with something and my brain feels like it's going to explode, I hate to think what kind of awful things that monster is putting chaos through, i mean...there are so many things he could make him do and-”

“Kid, relax, you mentioned getting boozed up won't help, well standing around fretting about it won't either,” he said matter-of-factly, “I know you, you are the guy that wants to go into action and do something when the chips are down, I get that. But we will get there, eventually...we just need to find what makes that thing tic and send him out the door and out of Jonny-boy's head.”

But then Harvey added, “Though don't worry, after this whole mess is done...we'll celebrate by taking your friend out for drinks and karaoke, the boy deserves it .”

Linkara thought for a moment, he looked as if he was going to suggest something but started to toggle between acting on it and having linger second thoughts, “There is someone,” he mused, “I mean....I don't know if he can...if he will help us after what happened-"

“Who? Oh Christ you don't mean-!”  
“Harvey, it may be the only way, he has been after that thing for who knows how long, he knows it more than we do!”  
“And what makes you think that guy will tell you anything, he is not altogether Mr. Happy-go-lucky sunshine with us at the moment after we banished him!”

“Its just an option to consider Harvey....!”

“Hey guys,” Spoony walked into the kitchen not paying attention to what they were previously talking about, “do you have the keys to the bedroom? I heard some noises coming from there.”

Linkara looked at both men concerned, “Yeah. I have the bedroom keys, let me check it out.”  
Before Harvey could stop him, Linkara went up to the bedroom door and took the keys out of his coat pocket, “Chaos?” He said knocking on the door, “it's me Linkara, I'm coming in...”

The only sound that replied to him was the sound of muffled cries and a sick gagging noise. Linkara shuddered and slowly unlocked the door and stepped inside. The deep tears from when the tendril's claws slashed in their fray, covered the walls near the bed and a few small knickknacks within his room were knocked over and/or broken. Linkara closed the door and to his shock, ChaosD1 wasn't on the bed, but rather in the bathroom leaning over an open toilet seat throwing up for some reason.

He walked over slowly, “Chaos, Jon, what...what happened, are you okay?”  
“NO! I'M NOT!” The man screamed between retches, “It...I can't take it Linkara...it made me...” He vomited into the toilet again, “why won't it leave me alone...?”

“What did it make you do?”

ChaosD1 didn't respond just yet, he just shuddered violently and leaned over to vomit some more, Linkara stepped away for a moment to give the man some privacy but kept the bathroom door open to monitor him. He looked around his nostrils assaulted by the pungent smell of something dead in here. Followed by the heavy droning of buzzing flies coming from the side of the bed. He stepped over and what he saw made his pace pale.

It was the gutted out remains of a half-eaten mouse.

“Chaos? Did this monster make you eat this mouse?” he asked.

“I didn't want to!” The man sobbed, “It said: 'The Host must feed' I felt like my body wasn't in control anymore, until I felt myself starting to snap out after a few minutes and..and before I knew it, I realized I was eating that disgusting thing...!”  
Linkara crouched down and examined the dead half-eaten mouse, from the looks of it, the thing hadn't been previously dead beforehand. There were no signs of decomposing and it looked like someone ripped into its stomach first before eating it, the thing was freshly dead. Which meant it was killing and feeding Chaos.

But why fed something that was slowly killing it from the inside?

As Linkara carefully picked up the dead bloody mouse by its foot, he could hear his friend talking so pitifully, what he did next no one could blame him for.

“Linkara?” He heard Chaos say as he got up and leaned against he door frame of the bathroom, his eyes were fully glassed over and his body weak, “I know it wants to kill me...I can feel it inside...Why is it taking so long? Why won't it just let me die already?”

It was time to seek out Lord Vyce!  
Suddenly, he heard Spoony rushing in, he quickly threw the mouse into the wastebasket and raced over to block him from entering the room, Spoony's reaction to seeing how The Creature manipulated ChaosD1 into eating that mouse would just make the situation worse than it already was, Spoony looked over the comic book nerd's shoulders only seeing a small glimpse of their friend laying back in bed.

"Dude, what happened," Spoony asked, "what was it, anything I can help?"

"Spoony relax," he gently pushed Spoony away from the door, "I got it under control, its fine, he just had to throw up."  
"Why does it smells like a dead mouse in here-?"  
"Spoony," Linkara sighed he grabbed his best friend by the shoulders and steered him away from the bedroom, not before shutting the door and locking it behind him, "Look, I need to go somewhere...find someone that can help him. Stay here and monitor Chaos while I'm gone, call me on the communicator if he does anything strange or unusual more than he already is!"

He brushed past Spoony and kept his mind focused on the task, trying to mask the feel of fear and panic he was doing inside his mind right now. He had two friends, one possessed and one prone to freak outs, and for right now, both were going to be one hell of a time to contain. He stood in the middle of the living room giving the exact same orders to 90s, Kid, Dr. Insano, and Harvey Finevoice before pressing the coordinates on his wrist teleporter device.

"Where are you going," suddenly Harvey realized it, "KID NO! YOU'RE GOING INTO A LION'S DEN-! KID!!!"

But the blue sparkles energies that took Linkara out of the room had already faded out of sight.  
~*~*~*~  
In his haste, Linkara regretted not bringing a warm, thicker, coat. But luckily for himself he had set the coordinates correctly so he was at least directly there where Lord Vyce was. Who at that very moment, was seeking shelter in a small cave with a makeshift campfire that looked so inviting right now.

"Lord Vyce," He said, "I come to you in peace and mean you no harm, I need your help..."

The Former Conqueror of Worlds watched him with suspicion, "You don't grovel, but your tone still reeks of desperation so the creature has already arrived hasn't it?"  
"Yes, and its taken over an innocent friend of mine," said Linkara daring to take step closer, "he controls him and according to one of our scientists, is killing him on the inside slowly - I need to find a way to remove the creature from his body without hurting him."

"And what makes you think that I can help you?" Lord Vyce asked.  
"Well, because you said you were after it, that was why you took over all those other galaxies wasn't it? To have numerous resources to defeat this monster! And after seeing what its capable of doing to other people, I can see why you did it. I don't agree to it, but now I see why."  
"Yes, what you fail to understand, is why I would consider helping you after banishing me here, do you think to finally come and seek my help like I would give it to you so easy and readily?"

Linkara hugged himself with his shoulders slumped down, he really should have expected that. It was the exact same logic he would have ranted about in his reviews so why should this have been any different?

"Okay, look I can't unbanish you, but you have my word that I will take good care of your ship, trust me, can you at least tell me what I might be up against here?" He asked once more.

Lord Vyce leaned forward staring deep into the fire thinking, Linkara wondered if he was going to help him or ignore him, until Vyce finally spoke up,"When the creature takes over the body of someone, it varies from species to species, it will attach to them and either kill them outright in a matter of minutes while it feeds on their life force, or it drags it out making a long and suffering progress."

"When I saw him last it made him eat the carcass of a mouse," replied LInkara shivering from both the cold and the recollection,"he said that the creature wanted him to feed, why feed the host if it's going to kill it anyway?"

"Its hard to say," answered Vyce, "But one guess I can tell is that if it's feeding off the host, it needs the nutrients from it to survive inside of his body, and therefore must feed him to keep him alive, its like a parasite in a symbiotic state, it needs the host until it willingly decides to leave your friend's body, and its very well using your friend to get at you as well, since it must have realized you propose a threat to it."

"How do I get it out? Dr. Insano said a 'exorcism' won't do any good."  
"Maybe not by your human rituals, but I seem to recall this similar incident ago, in a distant planet, I witnessed a high-priest alien tribal perform a strange ritual to remove the creature from the body of that a small youngling, it didn't kill her, but then, I'm not sure how well it will work on you friend, since he has never done it on a human before. But he did get The Entity out of her, that was the first time I saw it."

"Where do I find this High-Priest Alien?" Linkara asked, at this point he was willing to try anything.

"Here," he gave Linkara a small metal key card with a strange arcanic symbol on it, "his name is Yewail've, High Priest of the Order of The Sazjhyediwo, probably one of the very few I left on amicable terms with when I took his planet-I spared his temple. Anyway, he has dealt with expelling the creature from other aliens before, though I will be honest he will find your human friend a challenge, he has never done the exorcism on an earthling, it could present itself to be a very big risk Champion."

"I'm aware of that," replied Linkara,"but I will double the risk of having him die while I stand around and wait for it get bored with him, thank you."

"Put the keycard into your communicator and it will do the rest. And good luck."

~*~*~*~  
Meanwhile, Spoony was watching Chaos while he slept, eying him as he tossed and turned under the blankets, wrapping himself tighter to stave off what he felt was coldness, shivering. But oddly to Spoony, the room temperature felt comfortable. Not cold or hot. Just in that nice warm in between. Could it be the creature that was making the MMO reviewer feel this way?

Spoony took a blanket from the chest at the end of the bed and placed it over the comforter.

When he did, he took a closer look, and found to his shock that Chaos's arms and wrists were filled with bite marks, scratches, and bruises. Was this the creature's doing?

He didn't want to think what this alien being was forcing their fellow reviewer colleague to do to make these injuries on himself, carefully tilting the man's head to the side, the gamer saw the blood that stained the corner of his sleeping friend's mouth, it probably would have provided some clue, but not a clue he was eager to be revealed for his own sanity's sake. In fact he debated whether knowing what he knew now, would Spoony have wanted to find out or not.

He sat down in the chair next to the bed and ran his fingers through his black messy hair.

What the hell was going to happen next with Chaos, Spoony thought with a frustrated sigh, already, he looks like something or someone has been tearing his arms up, the man's sick, shaking all over, and I can't even fathom what other twisted depraved things this alien bastard is going to make him do this time, Linkara come back here soon!

Suddenly, he heard the blankets shift and the sound of a man starting to wake up.  
"Chaos?" Spoony said gently. "You awake, buddy?"

Chaos moved himself slowly up, still feeling that nasty taste of mouse in the back of his tongue, "Yeah, how long was I out?"  
"About half-an-hour..." Spoony hesitated a moment. "Chaos...what have you...what has it been doing to you?"

"I don't know," The MMO reviewer said rubbing his eyes, "I barely even know myself, its like it shuts something on and off inside my brain and I don't know what I've done or said...did I..do something else this time?"  
"Look at your arms! Dear God, man...that...that's not good..."

 

"What?" ChaosD1 looked down at his arms, they were covered in rows of four long white lines that canvased his landscape of his flesh dotted with red and black splotches where his teeth sank into the skin and bite as inhumanly hard as possible, he put his finger over the bite marks and they were sore to the touch, as if they were done minutes ago.  
Spoony could see the man start to breath heavily whispering incoherently over and over under his breath. This was the reaction of a man who had no idea he had even done this."WHAT IS THIS!!?!?"

"You don't remember?"  
"NO! I DON'T...I DIDN'T DO THIS!"  
Spoony nodded. "Hold on a sec...I'll get a washcloth...let's clean you up a little."

Chaos started to hyperventilate, even in his most depressed moments in his life he had never dared thought about hurting himself like this. Or by any means whatsoever, some bruises/scratches looked to be set and faded indication that he had done his before while under the control of The Creature.  
"Why is this happening!" he cried burying his face in his hands, "seriously, what the hell did I do to deserve this!?!?"  
Spoony patted him gently. "It's okay...it's not your fault...I'll take care of it. Linkara will be back soon, just...wait one minute, okay? Can you wait a minute?"

Chaos just sat quiet but nodded signifying he understood, Spoony then walked into the bathroom and took a wash cloth and wet it with warm water, he then searched the medicine cabinet for some disinfectant. After a moment, Spoony had what he needed and hurried back to the bedroom. Chaos was sitting straight up, staring straight ahead with tears pouring down his face. Spoony approached cautiously.  
"This might hurt a bit," Spoony warned him. "Just bear with me..."

He just sat there, unblinking, like someone had just shut him off. Spoony suppressed a shudder and pulled out a chair dragging it beside the bed, the dark-haired gamer didn't even look at the long cold emotionless stare the man's eyes were giving off. Spoony very carefully leaned over and started cleaning the cuts on Chaos's arms with the washcloth. Chaos didn't even blink. Spoony wanted to say something, but he didn't know what  
Spoony gently took his arm, it felt heavy and cold like the man was made of nothing but lead, and began to attend to the wounds on the arm next to him, "Uhhh...look, I'm not going to say:'I know what you're going through' because its probably not the same thing, but you don't have to worry. You have two friends that care about you that know what they're doing. We will get you through this..."

Chaos's head jerked. "It's not like that, Spoony. I didn't do this! It did...it's hurting me...inside and out...and it's hurting you, too..."

"I know what you mean, its one thing to go through it but to see your friend...."  
"No...Spoony....it's about to hurt you too...."  
Spoony stopped. "Chaos...?"

Just then the hand reaches out and grabs Spoony by the throat gripping him tightly. The MMO Reviewer's eyes are filled with nothing but blackness. Spoony choked and dropped the cloth, grabbing Chaos's arm in an attempt to pry his hand off, but he couldn't. He struggled to breathe, to get away, to call for help, but he couldn't. Spots of black began to cloud his vision.

The Gamer could feel himself being pulled forward and his back hitting the center of the bed, The Host growled threateningly and picked up the bottle of disinfectant medicine from the floor hanging it over Spoony's head, glaring. The bottle cap was off but there was still enough in there. Spoony started to scream and thrash but The Host's strength kept him still pinned to the bed, he could hear what sounded like the slithering of wet masses of meaty membrane slithering around in the disembodied air, he wasn't sure if it was the lack of oxygen or the the creature but everything begin to look fuzzy and glitchy, even ChaosD1.

Just as Spoony's vision gives out entirely, he hears a high, eerie voice.  
"Huuuuuuuuuuuuumaaaaaaaaaaaaan."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This takes place after the Lord Vyce arc but somewhere between the first and second part of the "Entity" storyline. Also if you squint you might see a slight Dr. Who reference. ;)

Host laughs and pours the bottle of disinfectant over Spoony's face getting it in his mouth and nostrils. He could feel the tendrils burst from his body swinging out wildly slashing at anything within its way. Spoony choked, feeling the burn. He was going to die. That stuff was poison and the Host was still strangling him and it was surprising he hadn't already had a heart-attack, but he was alive for now...alive to feel what would come next.

"I will rip your flesh off..." The Host threatened.

Spoony whimpered, unable to scream anymore. "Linkara..." he whispered. "Linkara, help..."

The Host poured some of it in Spoony's eyes and would have gruesomely continued if not for the sound of a gun making a loud banging sound followed by a faint crackle.

"Get. Off. Of. Him. NOW!" Linkara ordered, the gun still pointed at the Host.

The Host just laughed shoving Spoony off the bed, he perched there like a wild primeval animal ready to pounce on Linkara, when suddenly, his tendrils flailed in alarm and he suddenly much to Linkara's shock lunged upward towards the ceiling digging his nails and claws into the rafters, letting out a deep-throated growl. At that moment, a strange alien man wearing a elaborately designed druid robe and with a staff with a symbol on it came in from behind Linkara, the cowl partially covered his face but its presence made the creature uneasy and afraid, bristling with fear as if it had met him before. The alien looked up at the Host for a moment before nodding. "I see what you mean...can you stun him enough to knock him down but not kill him?"

"BACK OFF!" The Host screamed, "I HAVE GONE THIS FAR TO HAVE YOU STOP ME OLD MAN!"

The alien man rolled his eyes. "You have come far, yes. But You can never go far enough to escape me. Now come down before I have to do something drastic."

"I would rather let this body DIE than give up to the likes of you, you and that-" The Host spits venomously, "-Champion!"

The Alien Cleric sighed, "Leave the body of young earth man at once, or face the wraith of my power!" He holds up the staff as if he was Moses from the Ten Commandments facing off against The Red Sea and suddenly bright golden symbols appeared on the ceiling around ChaosD1 making the creature yell out in pain and drop onto the bed. But still conscious. Linkara hurried to Spoony, who was lying on the floor, still whimpering in pain.

"Do you need anything high-priest Yewail've?" he asked the cleric as he knelt down to pick Spoony up.

 

"Most obliged but I think you should attend to your partner there first, I will handle this abomination from the depths of the dark obsidian!" With that a circle appeared around the bed glowing yellow and bright, it surrounded ChaosD1 and a shield of light covered him, "This will keep the body in place while I expel the The Entity out."  
The glow started to illuminate the outlines of the tendrils making them visibly noticeable to anyone seeing them. The length of the curved hooks at the end made Linkara nervous, as they were no bigger than the blade of a sickle.

"That...oh my god...those THINGS were attached to his body?!?!" Linkara paled in fright.

"Yes," the Cleric said. "That is the physical form of the Entity. Now be quiet and take care of your friend. There is nothing more you can do here."  
Linkara was going to speak out in protest, but he closed his mouth, and nodded before dragging Spoony out of the room and into the living room.

The Cleric stood just outside the restraining circle. "You have a choice, Entity. You may leave this man's body unharmed...or I can destroy you. Which will it be?"

"I...will not...give in...to you or The Champion....I will make everything he sees and touches disappear before his very eyes!" The Entity growled and shook all over feeling the rays of the calm beautiful light burn him from the inside out. The Host screamed out angrily and grabbed his hair to alleviate the pain it was feeling. The Cleric spoke in a strange tongue, "FKIZU' DE WA! MON-TI'MZY'TEK NOQUL! GRU'RACK'TA!"

 

The light burned brighter and the monster howled once more in agony, it couldn't give up, it must not, not when he had already settled into a nice home into his earthling's body.

It had to fight back!  
~*~*~*~

 

In the living room, Linkara looked up from where he was carefully wiping the disinfectant out of Spoony's eyes. The screaming from the other room was truly horrific to listen to and the alien language didn't help. For once, Linkara didn't know what to do. He had to care for Spoony, but knowing that Chaos was probably suffering in there...it was hard.

But he had to trust the Cleric, so he simply returned to the task at hand.

Linkara grabbed a towel from the kitchen and wiped the smell of disinfectant off Spooony's face, shaking him awake, "Spoony, are you okay?" He asked, "Speak to me!"

He rubbed his hands on the gamer's neck.  
Spoony groaned slightly. "Linkara," he whispered, his voice a harsh rasp. "Linkara...need...Insano...swallowed some...disinfectant...don't know...Thanks" He started coughing and choking. Linkara put Spoony on his hands and knees then rubbed his back letting Spoony forcibly cough up as much as he could muster while taking out his communicator and calling for Dr. Insano to tell him everything.

"Insano...yes...no, I've got a specialist with him...It's Spoony. Apparently he was force fed a large amount of disinfectant...Peroxide...yes...okay. Thanks." Linkara hung up and a moment later Insano beamed in and hurried to Spoony's side.

As he let Dr. Insano do his scientific medical trade, he looked back at the door of the bedroom nervously.  
~*~*~*~

 

Inside, The Host was on his hands and knees bowed over curling inward from The Creature reacting to the alienistic exorcism ritual, the hands and feet were bending in awkward angles and the head moved from side to side, Yewail've kept chanting and reached for the belt lined with small pouches attached to it and pulled out a small red one full of sparkling purple powder. The Host began to speak in an eldritch-like tongue.

"Beneath the seas, besides the flames, off the coast where The Lost Beast came-!" The Host chanted, "-to bring the world misery and shame, a piece of the world is missing-!"

 

"Vzeulua! Mo'Chakuka!" The Alien Cleric exclaimed as he took a small handful of dust and threw it upon The Host.

The tendrils flailed out violently, one shattered the glass window on the right side of the room, brushing against the broken glass sticking out of the frame dripping what looked like black inky blood down the window frame and onto the carpet. Another tendril flew at a picture of Linkara's family hanging on the wall and broke it into four pieces. Yewail've backed away cautiously as a result. The creature within screamed, long and loud. The Host's body seized up as though he was once again having a seizure.

The Cleric kept chanting, his voice calm and steady. "Wyl'ne'ap'tho bijh'in'lar'sta," he murmured.

The Entity's screams didn't lesson, but there was another voice screaming. Not a long, loud, deep guttural growl but Chaos's voice was starting to seep through. Alien Cleric approached the man slowly who was writhing in the bed, sobbing. "I'm sorry boy, but this may hurt some more, it's only for the sake of your well-being we do this, do not be afraid..."

Chaos managed to look up, breaking through enough to nod weakly. "Do what you have to," he whispered.

Yewail've admired how brave the man was and smiled, he took the glowing staff and pressed it against the earthling's shoulder, tracing strange designs over the man's back leaving behind white beaming symbols of three circles within a triangle that burned ChaosD1 and disappeared into his body, causing him to thrash and lay on his back with his arms and legs stretched out spread eagle, screaming and shaking as if imaginary wires hooked into his chest and were pulling him upwards.

The Alien Cleric stood back and prepared for a incoming attack from one of the claw tendrils coming at him in retaliation. As one of the claws flew toward him, the Alien Cleric murmured a few syllables and the claw was grabbed by an invisible wire and restrained. The Cleric drew a large circle above Chaos with his staff, murmuring all the while, and one by one each claw was restrained. The man's human arms and legs did a few twitches before stopping.

"Remember your friends young human," Yewail've told him, "Remember your humanity, your life, your happiness, don't let The Entity take them away for a second it's trying to destroy you and everything you hold dear in your mind. Defy it!"

"I'm...trying..." Chaos gasped. "I can't...it has my mind...it has me...I don't have the strength!"

"X'ZL MU RULA!" Yewail've cried again, and ChaosD1 could feel his body unable to move.

Chaos felt as he was paralyzed, pressed deeply into the bed, he closed his eyes feeling as if a milling blades were slashing at his soul, shredding them into a million pieces. Out of the corner of his eye something thick and inky trickled down the side of his face. The man's entire body flushed red with his rapid heartbeat circulating blood throughout his system making all of his pulses pound so hard he could hear them. Chaos broke out into a cold sweat and screamed again feeling the creature fight to hold onto him, refusing to unlatch itself from his soul.  
"We're almost there human," The Alien Cleric told him, "you must be brave now...for your friends!"

Yewail've made a sweeping motion with his staff and the tendrils begin to slice apart into pieces of blood and gory chunks of unseen flesh splattered everywhere around the room and all over the bed, slicing itself away one by one until black inky lines started to appear on the walls of the bedroom and spread. Chaos screamed, louder than ever, but it was his scream, a human scream, as the last of the tendrils fell away. The Cleric murmured, "Je're'loc, hu'so'mai," and then lowered his staff.

He studied Chaos carefully. "How do you feel, human?"

The man rolled over on his stomach and grabbed his stomach, something dead and heavy settled in the bottom and it made him feel queasy, clutching his stomach tightly, he started coughing up a black, thick, tarry substance from his mouth. Meanwhile, Linkara looked up from where he had just finished wrapping a bandage around Spoony's eyes to prevent the light from irritating them further. He glanced at Insano.

"Go on," Insano said. "We've done all we can for Spoony."

Linkara rushes in time to see ChaosD1, hunched over on the bed still coughing up what looked like a gallon of motor oil, "Is he...?"

"He is not going to die," the Cleric said. "At least, not now."

Linkara went over and put his arms protectively around Chaos holding him tightly, he looked around to see that the black substance on both the bed and the walls started to move on their own absorbing into the walls and floor vanishing from sight, "So, is it finally gone?"  
"Its out of your friend...the creature has been defeated, for now, It runs with its tails between its legs moping that it has not won," answered the Cleric cryptically.

Linkara nodded. "Thank you. I'll take you home when I'm sure my friends are taken care of."  
"Most obliged Champion," he said, "for that, I wish you well in the upcoming battles again."  
"The what, what do you mean, it won't attack him again will it?"  
"I hardly doubt it now, it knows that if it did it would have to contend with me, after all, because that earthling became his host, it doesn't mean that was his true target."

"Right," Linkara muttered. "So what was its target?"  
Yewail've stared at Linkara solemnly, "It was you…"

Linkara stared for a moment, then nodded. "Makes sense," he muttered. "So what do I do now?"  
"First heal your friends and then, prepare your team Linkara for the upcoming battle against it," Cleric answered, "for it's not done with you yet."  
"It's not, why could you have killed it, you had the power to fight it, I saw what you could do!"  
"Because I don't have the means to kill it, I can only protect others from its corruptive mind and body attacks, but you Champion, it falls upon you to stop it. It's here for a reason Champion and now that Lord Vyce cannot stand in its way, its up to you to fill in that role hero, good wishes in the upcoming battle ahead."

Linkara sighed and nodded again. "Thank you Yewali've. There's food in the kitchen...help yourself to whatever you can find."  
"I accept your warm hospitality, I never tried your earth food before," He stops, "Well, except there was that one time..."

"Really, when was it?"

"An earth human-or so that is what he seemed to look like-wandered into my temple one day exploring, absolutely fascinated by everything there he saw, he had with him a female human as his companion he came up to me very bravely in fact and was quite a nice friendly fellow-what you earthlings would call a 'social butterfly'...he offered me one of your earthling foods he carried about with him as a peace offering to share among us." The Cleric explained.  
Linkara just stared for a minute, "Uhhh, that was n-nice of him....What was it?"

The Cleric thought a moment. "I believe he called it a 'fish finger.' And he offered a wonderful sauce to go with it that he called 'custard.'"

All Linkara could say was a small "Huh" sound, as the Cleric left the room and into the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone.  
After a while, he heard the mmo gamer stir from within Linkara's arms, speaking in a very weak and tired voice.

"Linkara, did he just imply that he-?"  
"We will talk about it later, for now lets get you comfortable," Linkara laid him down on the bed,"How is everything?"

"Physically, I'm a little tired," Chaos explained relaxing finally, "but mentally everything feels weird, I don't know what kind of stuff I did, and it seems like I don't want to know. But I will have to won't I?"

"Eventually, look, if its any consolation, Spoony forgives you for dumping that disinfectant peroxide on him," Linkara said, "he is being attended to by Dr. Insano so he should be okay now."

"Dammit Linkara, how could this have happened to me?"  
"Look, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is what happened," Linkara told him petting him gently, "you didn't ask for it or bring it upon yourself. It was nothing you ever did. Okay? It wasn't your fault. The Creature needed someone there to get at me, and you just happened to be there, but it wasn't your fault."

"Still, I can't help but think what kind of monster I was," he rolled over on his side, staring out the window, "even if it was really me it can't help but feel partially responsible for all the trouble I caused."

"You didn't Chaos, I had no idea that it was even inside the house," Linkara replied standing beside the bed looking down at his friend, "I will understand if you never want to visit this house again."

"Its not that Linkara," he said, "its just wondering how to deal with it-whatever...THAT thing was..."  
"Its called "The Entity" and as of this morning I had no idea it was even here, or what it was capable of, its traveled from plant to planet creating havoc upon everything it touches. It's hard to explain without adding any confusion, just know that whatever it is, it won't hurt you anymore, I promise."

"Thanks," there was something in Chaos's voice; a infliction that Linkara couldn't quite place, the man wouldn't even look at him, "Is it okay that I rest a bit until I go back home, I'm...just feeling tired right now."

"Yeah sure, rest up as long as you want, I'm sure the exorcism must have took it out of you-"  
"Can we please NOT mention that right now!" The MMO Reviewer snapped, looking over at Linkara, "I don't want to even think about what just happened okay?"

"Yeah...okay." Linkara silently turned around and left the room.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Linkara found The High-Priest Alien Cleric in the living room talking with some of his friends, he still couldn't take his mind off of ChaosD1, what does something like what he had to go through do to a man's psyche?

Especially a man who wasn't used to strange fantastical things unless it was pixilated make-believe behind the screen of a monitor, with the kind of comforting assurance that it would never happen to him in real-life. That they were merely concepts for entertaining stories and plots to games played for fun. Not a life and death struggle that nearly kills you and harms those close to you.

"How is he kid?"  
"He is okay right now Harvey, just fatigue from the ritual, I'm going to let him take a nap in there until he is well-rested to return back, until then I will get you home first High-Priest Yewail've."

"Many thank Champion," The Cleric got up after finishing his snack and crossed his arms over his chest bowing, "Zli'Karak Mo Toiveyga da monu - which means 'peace of mind, body, and spirit be with you throughout life-expectancy' friend."

"Thank you, that is very nice of you to say that." Linkara smiled, they walk off together to a quiet secluded corner of the room where Linkara looks back at the closed bedroom door before whispering to Yewail've.

"My friend, I'm worried about him honestly, he sounded upset before I left the room, he doesn't want to talk about the whole possession and exorcism thing, should I be worried?"

"Its not a happy subject most like to think about, especially with some of the incidents you described to me over the communicator when we first spoke," replied Yewail've, "and like any trauma its easy for them to block it out, he may not want to talk about it now, but be patient and when the time comes perhaps he will feel more confident or perhaps not, I do not know what things are like on your planet, but I see you are a caring man that wants to help him. And that is good, as you have trusted me with him, I too, will trust that you will know what you think is best to ease his pain by your earth customs."

Linkara nodded and sent the alien back to his home planet thanking him for all his help today.

Inside the bedroom, Chaos tried to forget about everything, the shock and mental pain of being controlled, having no willpower of his own being at the mercy of a unknown monster that wanted to give him nothing but death and misery...

Would anything ever be the same after this?  
He absentmindedly moved his foot and felt something soft and furry brush against his toes, in a panicky reaction he sat up and was about to backhand whatever creature wanted to gnaw its sharp teeth on him and make him-!

"Oh, its just you Bear." He sighed heavily as he lowered his arm down.  
He wondered why it was there, was it always there, at this point he didn't care right now he was too tired and upset to do so. Chaos did what came natural to him, something that after all these grueling hours, came naturally to him - that it was his own conscious choice. He picked up the teddy bear and hugged it.

It felt weird at first, a grown man hugging a teddy bear, but after a while that silliness wore off and it felt right...safe...like everything was slowly coming back to normal in his world again. Or so he hoped.

Bear in his own way, snuggled up against Linkara's friend, the events of the past couple of hours were a mass of ugliness and confusion and it wouldn't fully understand what had happened, but he did know in its own mind, that whatever this poor man had gone through, it was Bear's job to be his comforter and console for the night. 'Don't worry Linkara's friend, you're safe now, I'm here and so is Linkara...nothing will hurt you here anymore'

The End.


End file.
